Past to Present
by pendragon94
Summary: When Rose Tyler gets a second chance thanks to a destroyed TARDIS in the parallel universe, she returns to her home world. But she has changed with the years, in more ways than her age, and she is determined to find her Doctor. Along the way she finds an old friend, and new ones, in a quest to find her lost love.
1. Chapter 1

The workers in the building buzzed around busily, especially on floor 75. A few people clicked away into their computers, but most dashed from room to room, working on this or that. But when _she_ walked the halls, the others parted for her as though she were a stone in a stream. She was a constant, and an insistent reminder that some things do not make sense. The previous head of Torchwood has passed away seven years prior, and she had stepped forward to take the position. For some reason the board of directors had immediately accepted her, and it was as though nothing had changed. Only the most seasoned of employees remembered the previous head as more than a picture on a wall, and none of them had ever had more than a professional relationship with her.

An intern stood in the hall of the 75th floor, flipping through the pages inside a file in his hands, and mumbling to himself.

"That's Judoon." A voice stated behind him, making him jump and nearly drop the file. He turned, and couldn't believe that the head of Torchwood was standing right there. She must have realized that he had no idea what she was talking about, because she motioned to the picture in the file, and reemphasized what she had said. "That language is Judoon. Where did it come from?"

He looks down, and after a moment he pulls his thoughts together. "An alien metal capsule crashed down in the forest on the edge of town, and this was found inside. It's one of several sheets of paper, all of them are in the same language, and I think it's a call for help."

She takes the folder without warning, and glances at everything, before smiling at him and looking to his badge. "Follow me, Andy."

With a nod, he follows her to her office, where she closes the door behind them. He sits down when she points him to one of the chairs at her desk. Continuing on her path, she goes past a lit fireplace and begins typing into a keypad next to a door behind the desk. "Wait here, while I go into my private library."

While she's gone, he looks around, and his eyes land on the row of picture frames dotting the wall to his left. Despite her having told him to sit, he gets up, and goes over to the wall. Under each one, is a plaque, with a name and dates.

Peter 'Pete' Alan Tyler 1987-2014. He was an older looking man in the picture, with short light hair, and a serious expression. I could see a slight resemblance with him and the woman in the next picture.

Rose Marion Tyler 2014-2072. She and Pete both had the same serious expression, but there was something strange about Rose. She had an odd glow to her, especially in her eyes, but beyond the light was a slight darkness in her expression. It made her seem as though she were two different woman, clashing together. He'd heard rumors of her, and in the history books it appeared as though she were the best leader they had ever had. She'd pushed them all forward with a knowledge that she had supposedly gained traveling through time and space with someone in another universe. But those rumors had never really been believed.

Katie Lytre Raniom 2072-2099. The woman in the picture wore an expression that could only be called happy to be alive. Her smile was infectious, and made the intern smile as though he were giddy with excitement over something.

Sarah Tacket Leon 2099-2145. She looks tired in the picture, as though it were taken after she'd had a long night, and he wonders who she was. She's wearing clothes that even in those years were considered old, as though she were the type of person trapped in her youth forever. He wondered what had happened to her.

The next photo was of the current head of Torchwood, Marie Jackie Lyetr. No plaque was there to name her, but everyone who worked in the building knew her name.

His eyes return to the picture of Rose, and he can't help it when his hand comes up to run over her name on the plaque.

"Do you want to know about her?" Marie's voice made him jump, and he turned to face her.

"Who was she?" He couldn't stop the question from coming out.

"Well…she was literally out of this world." She smiles at a joke I don't understand, and when she notices my confusion, she presses forward. "She was Pete Tyler's daughter from another universe." His eyebrows jump up. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. She came through when the parallel world's Torchwood made a mistake and opened a rift through time and space. It was an accident, she wasn't supposed to stay here, but there was no other option. So she joined her dad, and they built the Torchwood we know today."

"Are the rumors true?" He doesn't know why, but he feels like it's not a problem to ask.

"Which ones?" She flashes a cocky smile.

"The ones about her travels…through the time and space?" Marie's eyes darken for a second, but she recovers before he notices.

"Yes. When she lived in the other universe, she met a man named the Doctor. He was a Time Lord. In that universe he was the last of his kind, but here they are completely extinct. I'm sure there were some of them here at some point, but no one knows what happened to them." She pauses, and for the first time he notices the book in her hand as she sets it on the desk and sits down across from him. "The Doctor was her best friend, and she even ended up loving him in the end, but they couldn't be together. By the time she told him how she felt, it was too late, and she was stuck here."

"Did she ever see him again?" Andy didn't know what was wrong with him for questioning everything without permission.

"Yes." Marie smiled, and he didn't notice the ghost of pain in her eyes. "She was able to go back for a short time, to save all the universes with his help, and then she returned here. When she came back, a man was with her, and she claimed he was a clone of the Doctor. Together they built the foundation for our alien database. But it was only just off the ground when he died." An almost indiscernible edge entered her tone. "They were in the field, when they found the last Dalek in existence. They managed to destroy it before it could rebuild their fleet, but it managed to kill the Doctor clone first. He was only in this universe for a year before he died."

"And Rose?" He presses.

"She…sort of went mad for a short time. But after long enough she seemed to recover, and resumed the work that her and the Doctor had started. She continued to build the database and defend the Earth until an invasion of the headquarters occurred, and she was killed toward the end of the scuffle. Katie Raniom took her place two months after Rose died."

A sad quiet filled the room for several minutes, before Marie spoke again. "This is your case now." She hands him the file back, along with the book. "That will help you translate the pages, but when you're done I want the book back. Congratulations. You've been promoted to an investigator."

Andy was speechless as she shooed him out of the office with the book and the file, but none the less went walking away with a new skip in his step.

Marie sat down at her desk, and opened the worn journal. Re-reading the final entry. _March 23__rd__, 2152- You will meet Andy the intern. He needs help, so give it to him. But make sure to tell him about Rose Tyler. He is key to the future beyond your leave. It will happen soon. Prepare yourself._

I take the last words on the page to heart, and open the screen over the fireplace. _Destroy this._

The book burns slowly, taking nearly twenty minutes to completely disappear.

**Six Months Later**

Andy follows Marie into the elevator, and is shushed when he tries to ask where they are going. He's shocked when a secret panel opens next to the button, revealing a secret switch. She flips it, and the elevator begins to descend. They reach the only known to him basement floor, and keep going down. Finally it stops, and opens, and he follows her out into a white room. "You're the first person to see this since I started it." In one corner of the room stands a blue Police Telephone Box. "This is the TARDIS." She turns to Andy, with tears in her eyes. "After all this time, I am going home."

"What?" He doesn't understand what she is talking about.

She takes a deep breathe, and he swears that he sees her eyes darken for a moment. "I am Rose Tyler." He just looks dumbfounded, so she continues. "When my base was raided, I was shot down, and I thought for sure that I would die. But then this TARDIS appeared. I managed to get inside alone, and the TARDIS came alive, allowing me to regenerate. I became a Time Lord, and since then I have been every head of Torchwood. Protecting the earth was always my first priority, but I quickly built this secret workshop and had the TARDIS moved here. I've worked on it in every spare moment I've had for over a hundred year, and finally, I have succeeded. All it will take for the TARDIS to work properly is for us to jump universes. The intensity of the energy that we will face between universes will kick start all of her systems, and she will begin to work at full capacity. Then I will be home free."

"What are you talking about?" Andy demands, and she smiles.

"I am a Time Lord, and I am going home. I have built this entire place with the help of countless others, and now it is ready to run ahead without me. The future is ahead for all of you, without me in it." She smiles and steps closer to the TARDIS.

"What are we supposed to do?" His head is practically spinning, and she stops to laugh lightly.

"You can do whatever you want, and by the way, you're the head of Torchwood now." She pulls a paper from her pocket, and hands it to him, before moving forward to open the TARDIS door.

"You are the head of Torchwood now. Use the library in my office. I know you will do good. The best of luck to you." She steps into the Police Box, and a minute later a whooshing sound fills the room.

Before him, the police box fades away, and nothing is left behind but a single man in an empty room.

_**Cardiff- Present Day**_

Jack nearly faints when he hears the sound that he's come to know and love. When the lift takes him up, he stands dead still for a moment, staring at the beautiful blue box.

The door opens, and all at once horror fills him when he sees the strange woman step out.

"Who are you?" He demands, drawing and aiming his gun.

She seems dazed for a moment, before smiling. Moving, she knocks on the door, and an old song starts to play from within. He remembers the song from the time he had danced with Rose Tyler, and suddenly it clicks.

"Can you still dance?" The gun nearly falls from his hand when she says it, and he rushes forward to embrace her a split second later.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I finally started college! I know some are you who are reading other stories of mine are wondering if I will ever do updates, and I promise I will. But hopefully you will understand that they will be unpredictable and I don't know if I will always have time. **

**Now here's a note for those that didn't notice it in the first chapter: If you look at the names of the former heads of Torchwood, you may want to pay close attention to Rose Marion Tyler and Katie Lytre Raniom. The middle and last names are the same words with the letters mixed. Marion=Raniom and Tyler=Lytre**

**I like to think that when Rose gave herself the new name it was because she was still attached to her old self, and not yet ready to move on. But those are just my inner ramblings, so let's get to the good part!**

I opened the monitor strapped to my wrist, and started to examine it further. Jack had developed a tracker for the Doctor, and when he had the chance he made a wrist piece similar to his to use it with. He told me that it would work anywhere, and I started to wonder at all of the different way it could work. My fingers itched to tear it apart, and discover its inner workings, but I denied myself strongly. I needed it to help me find him.

"I can show you how it works, if you want." I jumped slightly, chiding myself mentally for not staying aware of my surroundings. Looking up at Jack, I give him a half smile, and chuckle.

"How could you tell?"

He hesitates, before speaking gently. "I've seen the Doctor with that same look before."

My hearts seem to skip a beat, but I don't allow any hint to show at the emotion coursing through me. "Yeah, I suppose I have started to act a bit more like him in this regeneration. When did you see him last?" I ask, and he thinks for a moment.

"Well, I didn't see him since I was out in the field, but seven months ago I found a package on my desk. It was wrapped in Tardis blue paper, and it was some parts I needed for my Vortex Manipulator. As far as I know he's the only one able to get the things, so assumed it was him. No note or anything though." I smile at this. It would be just like the Doctor to leave a gift with no way of letting you know it was him.

"When are you leaving?" He asks suddenly, and I realize that I'd been lost to my thoughts and memories for over five minutes with him just standing there.

"Soon." I say, and stand to walk past him. He follows me to the kitchen area, and we both grab leftovers from the previous night's dinner. I had been staying at the Torchwood hub for nearly a week to get myself up to date on everything that had happened since I had been in the other universe. I'd moved the Tardis to set in the corner of Jack's office, and he'd helped me do a systems check. Exactly as I had predicted, the jump between worlds had kick started all the systems, and it was running perfectly. Probably even better than the first Tardis I had come to know, given that mine hadn't been tinkered around with for almost a thousand years. I eat quickly, and Jack does the same. In his face, I can see that there is a question burning to be asked.

Sure enough, just as I am throwing away my trash, he speaks up. "I want to go with you." He says, and I frown.

"No." My response is immediate, and a touch of hurt enters his eyes. "I have to do this alone, but there is something that I need you to do for me here."

_The first night I was in the hub alone, I decided to take a look around, and was shocked when I found it. The leather bound book was the journal that I had had in the other universe, guiding me through the years, only brand new. Opening and flipping through it, I see that it's blank, and then I know. I had always thought that I recognized the handwriting, but I could never place it in my memories. It was Jack's handwriting, and as I come to terms with this, I quickly realize exactly what must be done. _

_I start having him write it out, since I remember every word that I had read in the journal. He doesn't understand why I'm having him do it, but he does anyway, and we work through two nights to finish. _

I hand him the jounal from my pocket, and he looks at it. "I still don't understand this." He says, and I nod.

"I know, but it is important. That journal is the reason I'm able to come back, but first I need you to get it to me. Do whatever you can to send it through to the other universe, and it will find its way to me. But getting it there is the hard part." He nods, looking confused. "It's through this journal that I know what I must do to get here."

"Are you going to go now?" He asks, and I smile.

"You always did seem to know me well." I follow him up to his office, and open the door to my Tardis. "It was good seeing you Jack, but I must go now."

"Come see me again when you can. I'll always be around, and I promise to get this letter to you in the other universe."

I give him a quick hug, before closing the door, and going to the console. When we jumped universes, the Tardis pulled the likeness of the coral strutted room from the Doctor's Tardis out of my memories and had recreated it. I'd been shocked when I'd left the room to go the wardrobe, and then returned to see the new room. Giving the screen a loving pat, I started us into the vortex, and calibrated the Doctor tracker with the navigation systems.

"Here I come." I whispered to no one in particular.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been several months, with no luck at finding the Doctor, and I was currently in the middle of a busy marketplace. Stall after stall lined the streets, run by different locals who showed up in the mornings to set their station up. It covered an area of about twelve New York City blocks, and was like a playground for me. I had found a lot of useful rare parts and pieces already, and in the bag on my back I had an entire pocket full of baubles to send to Jack. I'd given him a phone number to reach me at, and he always called whenever he needed help to figure something out or couldn't get a piece of equipment he needed.

My Tardis sat in a small alleyway, out of immediate view, and even the few who walked past seemed to not notice it at all. If they did, they didn't make it known.

I stopped at the booth of a young man from an aquatic planet two systems over, and started to look over the strange corals and rare stones that he claimed to have collected himself. The boy appeared very human, but with gills on his neck, and no finger nails. "Interested?" He asked, when I picked up a particularly large diamond, and I smiled.

"Just looking, for now." He nods, glancing around the crowd behind me.

I bring the diamond closer to my eyes, looking at it intently, when suddenly someone bumps me from behind. I drop the gem onto the table, and look over my shoulder as a man speaks up, "Sorry wasn't paying attention."

My hearts skip a beat simultaneously at the accent, and when I turn I am face to face with the 9th doctor. "Doctor?" I say, without thought, and his brow furrows.

"Do I know you?" He asks after a moment of hesitation, and I am speechless.

I gulp in a breath of air, and am unsure of what to say.

"Are you okay?" He asks, and his hand comes up to touch my shoulder. When his skin touches mine, he tenses, and I do the same. Our minds brush together, and it takes less than a second before I have broken away and am running through the streets of the market. Looking back quickly, I see that he's doing his best to follow me. Picking up the pace, I dart down the alley, and am quickly inside the Tardis.

I hear him pounding on my door, and I hurry to start flipping switches and turn knobs. "Wait!" He calls out, before the whooshing sound of the engines fills the room. I set down in the captains chair, shaking slightly, and I know that this is bad.

How could I have been so stupid? I know that he won't stop until he finds me, and I wonder how long it will be before he shows up.

After a few hours of nothing but worry, I finally calm down, and go to the library. When I had been with the Doctor as a human, he had spent endless hours in his library, and now I understood why. Once I finished two of the books I had been reading, I headed to the kitchen and had a quick meal before sorting through my bag and putting things where I wanted them from the marketplace. To someone who didn't know, they would think that it was impossible that I could pull so much from the bag, but it was actually bigger on the inside. Just like the Tardis.

After a few hours of sleep, I go to the console room, and set the coordinates for New Earth. Carefully, I make sure to land in New New York about twenty years before the other Doctor and Rose will arrive. It's a thriving place, with a wonderful rare book market on the opposite end of the city from the hospital. I'm in the section of the oldest books they have, which takes an entire room in the shop, and have just picked up a supposedly original copy of an Anne Rice novel. But looking at the inside cover, I see that it is not in fact an original, and set it down.

"I have a signed copy, if you'd like to see it." I freeze, and let out a sigh.

Turning around, I see him leaning up against a bookcase, with a frown marring his features. "That's alright." I say, and turn to leave.

He follows me of course, and when we get out onto the street, he starts talking again. "Where are you from?" He demands, but I shake my head, and motion for him to follow me down the alley toward my own Tardis.

When I get to the outside of it, he looks it over, "This is the same type as mine."

"Yeah, I know." I say, before immediately regretting it. His brow goes up, and I sigh. "Doctor…you need to stop following me. I am someone from your future, and if you persist, then I don't know what will happen to us."

He nods, "You are probably right, but who are you?"

"You will know my by a different name when we meet for the first time, but you may call me Marie." I wonder how soon he will be going to Earth, and how soon it will be that he will meet the young Rose Tyler. These thought lead to others, and something occurs to me. "When you go to Earth again, take something to handle the living plastic."

He nods, and I go through my door without telling him anything else.


	4. Chapter 4

It's been two months since my encounter with the 9th Doctor, and my tracker hasn't shown any signs of anything since then. I'm just about to step out the doors, when I hear the alarm go off behind me. Turning, the monitor shows me a line of text, and I realize that the Doctor is close by.

Running out, I send back a wave with my sonic screwdriver, and the doors lock automatically. The Tardis had given it to me after my encounter with the 9th Doctor. It looks just like the one I always remembered, except the light on mine is red.

I take to walking the streets surrounding my Tardis, and it's nearly an hour later when I see it. The other Tardis is setting next to a fountain in a small park, with nobody around, and I can't help but rush up to it. Pulling the key on the chain from around my neck, I put it in the lock, and it opens instantly. I step inside, and as the door swings shut behind me, I am shocked at what I see. The console room is completely different from anything I've seen before. It has a Victorian feel, with candles everywhere and large metal struts that support the console in the center. I'm still staring when the door opens on the other side of the room, and a man steps through. He doesn't seem to notice me, and steps up to the console to turn his back to me.

He has shoulder length, slightly curly hair, and is wearing a knee length coat. Beneath that is a pair of light slacks and a buttoned vest. The chain of a pocket watch peeks out, and I wonder who he could be. Then it hits me.

"Doctor?" I ask, stepping closer to the console.

He whirls around, seeming shocked to see me. "Who are you?" He asks, and glances toward the console as though it holds the answer. Smiling, I step up to the console, and he sees the key in my hand.

Grabbing it, he looks it over. "This is _my_ Tardis key…where did you get this?" He asks, and I snatch it back.

"You give it to me, in the future." He looks immediately wary and takes a step back.

"What are you doing here?" I put the key back around my neck, and the look on his face is as though he's seeing a ghost.

"I have a way to track you, and I was looking for the future version of you. We're sort of...well we're good friends." He nods, seeming to accept this, and I put my hand on a part of the console.

A humming fills the air, and I smile. He does the same as he feels the Tardis respond to me. "She seems to trust you."

"Yeah, I suppose I've saved you a few times, and she doesn't ever forget. Not even time stops her from knowing." His eyebrow cocks at what I say, and I laugh. There's a sudden knock from beneath my feet, and I look down, wondering at what is wrong. Seeing where I'm looking, he shakes his head.

"Don't worry about that, it's been doing that for a few years now." Without another word, I drop down to one knee, and pull up the panel in the floor. He watches closely as I start to move wires and components around and finally find the problem.

"One of the stabilizers isn't wired in properly, see?" I say, holding the offending wire, and grabbing my sonic screwdriver from my pocket. Fixing it quickly, I replace everything to where it was and stand.

"How did you know how to do that?" He asks, and I grin broadly.

"Doctor, there are a lot of things that you have yet to learn about me. But I promise that the time will come when you know everything…absolutely everything." I say the last part more to myself than to him, and he appears confused.

"Right then, what should we do now?" The question throws me for a second, before I walk toward the door.

"I'm off to find you. The future you." I say, and before he can question me I'm gone through the door.

He doesn't follow me, and I take a leisurely stroll toward a chips shop down the next road over. As I'm eating my snack, I can't resist the temptation to walk back through the park on my way to my Tardis. His is gone of course, disappeared to who knows where, and I don't mind. It means that he is one step closer to meeting me in a shop in London.

I settle on a bench to eat, and am nearly done when a young man sits down next to me.

"You don't look like you're from around here." I just nod, and look him over more closely.

He's about twenty years old, with short black hair, green eyes and is wearing a plain white t-shirt and worn jeans. There's light stubble on his chin, giving him a slight rugged look, and if I were still a young Rose Tyler I may have been interested in him.

"No, I'm not." I say, and continue to ignore him for the most part as he watches me.

"So where _are_ you from?" He presses, and I roll my eyes.

"Nowhere really. I'm more of a traveler, always going from place to place." I don't really know why I feel like I should trust him, but there's something interesting about him. There's a strange spark in his eye, something that I can't identify, and it intrigues me. "Who are you?" I realize that he has a slight accent, different than someone from London would have. "Where are you from?"

"Well my name is Anthony, I'm originally from Cardiff, but I decided to come here to get a change from that boring place." I almost laugh. If only he knew the truth. "I've been all over, probably more places than you, and I just rented a flat up the road." At this I actually do laugh and I wonder if he has any idea just how wrong he is.

"So if you're travelling, then why did you rent a flat?" I ask, and he seems unwilling to answer for a moment.

"Well, my father was funding my travels but he said that if I don't start working a future soon then he's going to cut me off. So I got a flat to appease him." I consider this for a moment, and begin to wonder if I should do it. After sitting with him for a minute through silence, I finally make up my mind.

"Anthony, would you like to come with me?" I ask, and hold my breath for an answer.

"Where?" He asks, and I stand, prompting him to do the same.

"Follow me." I say, and start walking away.


End file.
